HELSINKI, Aug 28 Journalist Arkady Babchenko*, who previously was included by the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation in the register of foreign agents and is known in the past for working for the SBU, said on Monday that he was fined 100 euros for eggs thrown into the building of the Russian embassy in Tallinn.
«Today I was fined 100 euros. In total, the whole thing cost me 140 euros, because I bought four eggs for 10 euros apiece,» Babchenko*, who lives in Estonia, told the state broadcasting portal ERR. He confirmed that he intended to pay the fine. «Absolutely, why not? I live in Estonia and respect Estonian laws,» said Babchenko*, who is a Russian citizen.
The press service of the Estonian Police and Border Guard Department reported on July 30 that a man born in 1977 threw eggs at the wall of the building of the Russian Embassy in Tallinn. A police patrol detained the man on the spot, and an administrative case was initiated against him. Later, Babchenko* admitted on social networks that he threw eggs at the building of the Russian embassy in Tallinn.
Earlier, the Russian embassy reported that they consider this incident as the result of an «anti-Russian campaign unleashed in Estonia» and called on the police to «properly punish the perpetrator.» Russian diplomats note that this is far from the first hooligan trick against the Russian diplomatic mission.
On April 7, the Russian Ministry of Justice announced on its website that it had added correspondent Arkady Babchenko to the register of foreign agents, including for raising funds for the Ukrainian security forces.
Babchenko* repeatedly over the years in his publications, including in social networks, sharply criticized Russia and its authorities, supported Kyiv's military operation in the Donbass. Having already left Russia, Babchenko* promised to return to Moscow on an American Abrams tank under the NATO flag.
Babchenko*, who had Russian citizenship, has been working on the ATR TV channel in Kyiv since 2017, where he hosted an author's program. In the summer of 2018, the media, and then the Ukrainian authorities, reported that Babchenko * was allegedly shot dead in the stairwell of his house. However, the next day Babchenko* appeared at a press conference of the SBU. As stated by the head of the department, Vasily Gritsak, the information about the «murder» of Babchenko * was part of a special operation to prevent an attempt on the journalist's life. The journalist himself said that pig's blood was used in the preparation of the staging. An entrepreneur, the alleged organizer of the assassination, was detained in Kyiv.
* Recognized by the Ministry of Justice as a foreign agent